Anya's conversation with the pair of Ninetales lasted past noon, even tired Anya still enjoyed conversing with Fading of Obligation and the young Sparks of Dawn. It amused Anya quite a bit, that the Ninetales had in fact given themselves names, the names sounded a bit more theatrical, descriptive and mythical, going for the opposite of the simplicity of Human naming conventions. Fade as Anya had shortened the older Ninetales' name was in the heat of telling the origin of their names to Anya.
"[Names in general didn't stick well with the pack. The young Sparks of Dawn]" he said as he gave a fond look at the smaller Ninetales before continuing "[Was the only one who was adamant in naming his fellow pack mates, even giving them temporary names at one occasion, one of the elders, the Sun Seer was the first one to give in to Sparks' demands and constant banter, The seer had decided to give names a thought.]" His gaze had softened and a what passed for a smile had appeared on his mouth.
"[A while, week or so later, the Sun Seer had announced her new name, which pleased the young Ninetales immensely. The Seer then explained her reasoning of her name, after a while of meditating on the names she noticed that a normal name had not sounded right and after searching for a while she found that a more titular and story-like name had pleased her more. She had chosen her name soon after, Seer as in her task in the pack and Sun mirroring her warm, hopeful disposition towards the future and her place in it. She had deemed herself satisfied with her current name and encouraged others to give it a thought for some unseen reason.]"
"[Other Ninetales from the pack had soon taken to the descriptive story-like naming conventions and I named my son, the Sparks of Dawn, to honor the fact that he was the reason the pack has had a radical change towards a more brighter future]" he said proudly and the younger Ninetales looked away in embarrassment.
It fascinated Anya, that the whole of the pack had decided on getting identifying names, even if the real reason for some of the Ninetales was dubious at best as Fade had told Anya that most of the naming had come from the aspect of generating folklore and legacy, they all had known one or another Ninetales who had been given a name by the Human of the old, Fade proceeded to tell Anya the tale of Midnight Nightmare, an ancient powerful Ninetales who had terrorized a Human village in years past, now forgotten by many, the wrath of losing her mate to the Humans had made her unstable and she had dedicated the rest of her life to eradicating Humans, the tale ended in a sad note where a group of Humans along with their Pokémon hunted down the deranged Ninetales and put her to rest, before passing away she put a terrible curse on the Humans.
"[-the curse itself lasted for generations and caused the humans in the village to suddenly wake up in the middle of the night drenched in cold sweat and hitched breathing, thus giving her the name Midnight Nightmare]" Fade told Anya, ending the story in a somber tone.
"[Couldn't they just move to a different village?]" Anya asked curiously
"[No, from what I know about curses and cursing, Curses tend to stick to the person afflicted and pass on to their descendants, weakening over time and generation, the more people the curse affects the faster it drains its energy, thus diluting the curse as long as there are more births in the village than deaths.]" Fade explained
"[Such a curse sounds dangerous, but equally as powerful, sleep deprivation is not a joke]" Anya said in though as she tried to imagine being a target of such a curse a shiver went down her spine.
"[Yup, and the main reason why naming became a thing with the pack, was that they would like to be remembered on their own terms, not a derisive name given by others]" Sparks said happily, not disturbed by the least by the harrowing story being told.
They continued conversing about the nature of curses for a moment before, Fade's ears perked up.
"[Seems like our time is up]" said Fading of Obligation suddenly, while raising up "[Sparks of Dawn, let's go, say your goodbyes for now]" both of the Ninetales turned to Anya.
"[Thank you for your time, I apologize for meeting so suddenly, we will meet again]" Fade said earnestly.
"[See you Anya, it was great seeing you!]" Sparks stated energetically as he turned around after Fade.
Just as both of them had disappeared into the deeper forest, Anya could hear chattering of approaching Human's. A while later a pair of peculiar looking humans appeared into the clearing, trainers by the look of the Pokéballs on their belts, "I believe that's our target" said one of them to the other, pointing at Anya, who had just stood up. Both of the trainers wore a black cap and sunglasses and an identical outfits
"Hello?" asked Anya with the help of the synthesizer.
"It even kinda talks" quipped the other "Makes our job easier, I guess" giving a shrug.
As they both got close enough for Anya to make out the more finer details, she did not recognize either of the trainers.
"How. Can. I. Help. You?" Anya said as she carefully dusted grass out of her suit to make her more presentable.
"Are you Anya?" asked the first one. To which Anya gave a prompt nod.
"Alright, now just to get back to the HQ without bumping into other squads on the same assignment and the bonus is ours" said the second one. Cluing Anya in that these might be Team Rocket members acting on behalf of Giovanni or one of the other admins. Anya did want to see where this thing was going and decided to play along with them, for now.
"Understood. Where. Shall. We. Go. Please. Show. The. Way." catching them off-guard. They most likely didn't believe Anya to be coming with them willingly or expecting her to go along so easily.
Before they could even leave the clearing, another pair of similarly dressed people arrived at the scene, the only identifying feature between the groups were a colored bands on their arms, the ones with Anya had a dark brown and the newcomers had a dark red armbands.
"Hand over the target" demanded one of the new arrivals "Or else, prepare to be defeated" the red team's leader demanded from the brown team. Anya was curiously watching from the sidelines as a bystander.
After a few rounds of banter, the brown team decided to grab Anya and make an escape. It felt quite odd for Anya to be suddenly grabbed by the waist and placed on the shoulder, she tried her best to keep her cutters away from accidentally cutting the person carrying her.
It took a while for the red team to catch up to them, this time, the brown team had to engage in combat, they both released a singular Pokémon and gave them immediate orders.
"It seems like running isn't an option anymore" said the one carrying Anya, before placing her on to the ground.
"Its good to know when you are outmatched, surrender the target and we will let you go!" shouted one of the red team members.
"What should we do? We were no match for them during the combat trials" the other member of Brown team grit his teeth.
"We will have to try"
In midst of all the action between the Red team and the Brown team, Anya was intently watching the action pass by, it had been a while since Anya had seen such a chaotic Pokémon battle, she could see that the brown team was on the defensive and taking a beating, they did try to stall the best they could, before the match could even conclude, a cautious tap on Anya's shoulder caused her to become more aware of her surroundings, a sudden cold yank from behind and Anya was moved away from the battle between the two teams, trying to make sense of her current location, her vision was filled with a floating purple mass. "Good job, Haunter" came a male voice behind the mass.
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Anya was soon greeted with a pair of similarly dressed people, this time they had a purple armbands and one of them was a female, at least judging from the more curvier body type.
"Let's skedaddle" said the other one in a feminine voice while returning the Haunter, confirming Anya's suspicions of the members gender. Anya could still hear the distant sounds of the combat, she had not been extracted too far from the heat of things. They both looked at Anya in wonder, not exactly sure how to interact with her, she put her right cutter in front of her mouth to indicate silence and gesturing 'go ahead' afterwards, indicating that she would follow after them.
The purple team took a short glance at each other along with a quick nod before bolting further away from the nearby combat scene, Anya followed soon after.
After following the purple team for a while, Anya could not hear the sounds of battling anymore, either the battle was over or they had noticed that Anya had disappeared and decided that it was not worth it to fight against each other for no reason.
Anya still on the purple teams tail, noticing that they had decided to stop inside a dense underbrush, without any external line of sights inside. Anya followed them inside, causing a small surprise on the purple team for some reason.
"Oh, right, you were following us" the female said in a low voice, seemingly having forgotten their objective momentarily.
"So. What. Is. The. Plan?" Anya winced as the synthesizer's voice was a tad too loud and echoed loudly in the silence of the forest and she gestured hurriedly an apology as embarrassment showing in her reddening cheeks.
The male of the purple team, inched closer to Anya, "We will wait for a moment, my scouts will tell us when the coast is clear to the delivery point." They sat inside the underbrush for a few minutes, before a small rustling was heard, a pair of small Rattata had arrived, "[Route is all clear, boss]" one of them chirped silently. "[No sign of the Pidgeot nor other groups, we are ready to go]" squaked the other.
"All right team, final checks, no going back, deliver the target to the drop off point, no matter what happens, if other arrive, stall" said the male, his attitude radiating confidence.
"Miko, is Haunter ready?" he asked his partner by name,
"No names Purple Leader, Haunter is good to go, the first grab took a lot out of him, but he is ready to go again if the push comes to shove" she said with a no nonsense attitude.
"R1 Go ahead, R2 on interception" The male said, both of the Rattata left the bush and the male took a ready position "Please follow near her, she will deliver you safely to safety" he said to Anya before giving her a charming smile.
"Let's go team" he cheered as he sprang out of the bush, Anya noticed that the male was carrying a filled sack with him when sprinting.
A tug on Anya's sleeve, the female, Miko was trying to get her attention, Anya turned to her, with a wave of her head she indicated to Anya that they are supposed to move.
"Let's go, hope you can keep up" she said as she too took into a sprint.
They didn't go as gung ho as the Purple leader and they mostly sneakily traversed from cover to cover, at first it seemed that everything was going as planned, but suddenly a purple snake sprang from behind a tree, an Ekans aiming to halt their advance, before anything could happen an even small purple streak hit the Ekans like a miniscule comet, launching the snake Pokémon out of the way, Miko along with Anya, increased pace, even faster while shouting "Cover is blown, go, go, go". Anya noticed that she still had not released haunter from its Pokéball. While following after Miko, Anya also noticed that a panting Rattata had joined running alongside her, looking around for dangers.
"[You are one hell of a Rattata]" Anya quipped out loud, causing the Rattata to miss a step and stumble a bit in surprise.
They were approaching the edge of the forest, Miko halting her advance.
"Damn, they got here before us" she cursed. Anya stopping nearby and looking out to the clearing, she saw another group of similarly dressed trainers, these ones had a white armband.
"Its the top squad, damn, we can't force our way through" Miko
"Though that was always in the plans wasn't it" she said to no one, sighing, she released her Haunter.
"Come on buddy, It is all up to you" she said to the Haunter, a tinge of worry in her voice. She continued softly in a barely audible voice "I believe in you"
The Haunter wavered, its posture rigid, it closed its eyes and soon an unstable darkness was slowly swallowing Miko, Anya and the Haunter, Anya could see the strain on the Haunter, a familiar feeling welled up inside Anya, the last time she had felt such was when she was battling against Madam Boss' henchmen, Anya could feel the energy inside her reacting to whatever the Haunter was trying to do, her body somehow understood the technique being used. She redirected her energies to blend with the shadowy ground, expediting the process. She saw the Haunter's focus bettering, the strain lessening and the shadowy pool stabilizing and expediting their entrance to the pool. Even Miko seemed surprised of the Haunter's performance, an excited smile on her face.
Soon after they appeared inside the buildings shadows, having passed the clearing. Miko, giving her Haunter an excited hug, somehow grabbing onto the ghost Pokémon. The tired Haunter after a momentary confusion, locked eyes with Anya, noticing that she had done something during the casting. The Haunter was starting to droop in Miko's arms becoming more and more intangible by the second, Miko noticing this returned the tired Pokémon in a flash of red light.
"We are almost there, come on" She said to Anya, guiding her through the buildings. With a quick glance around the area they were at, Anya noticed that it did not look like Viridian at all and she wondered where had she ended up in.
Miko took a sudden left into an alley, Anya following immediately after. She felt around the wall and soon an audible click was heard a hidden passage had revealed itself, Miko motioned Anya to enter first.
Anya entered the building and Miko soon followed after closing the way behind them, it was just dark singular hallway without any branching paths or lights, Anya continued straight towards the only source of light at the end of the tunnel.
Closing in on to the exit, Anya started to hear voices, it sounded like a group of people having a jovial chat at the end of the passage, soon after Anya had entered a grand hall, she noticed that a lot of people were at the site, sitting on the chairs watching at a big screen. From this angle Anya did not see what exactly was shown on the screen itself, but it seemed to be something exciting when listening to the animated conversation and the oohs and aahs from the crowd.
Miko grabbed at Anya's sleeve and dragged her out of the shady corridors, all of the people at the hall wore similar outfits to Miko, with a multitude of different coloured armbands, but instead of a singular arm band on their right arms, these guys had arm bands attached to both arms, Anya even saw some multi-coloured bands on some people.
Approaching towards the front of the hall with Anya in tow, Miko released her hold on Anya and gave a crisp salute to a man standing in a separate station "Purple team, reporting with the target to the designated location".
The man in front gave them both a curious look, "Good job, purple team, mind if I ask where your partner is?"
"Purple leader is doing his part of the plan and should be joining us soon, sir" she said confidently
Before the man could even give an answer another person had arrived at the hall, a man with a victorious smile, a pair of exhausted Rattata perched on his shoulders and sporting a purple armband was confidently walking through the hall towards front of the hall.
He neared the front gave a quick nod to Miko before giving a salute. "Purple Leader reporting, mission is a success" he said in all seriousness, even the Rattata on his shoulder stood in attention.
"At ease, purple leader" said the man in command.
"I will take care of her, you have an hour before debrief, meet you there, dismissed" he waved the purple team away, who departed hastily and disappeared into one of the passages.
"This way" said the man, leading Anya towards the back of the room, the other teams had their eyes on Anya.
"Don't mind the peanut gallery" the man waved them off. "They just haven't really seen many outsiders here, after all this is not really a place for just anyone to be in" he gave a warm chuckle.
"I'll bring you to a waiting room, where you can make yourself comfortable, Chief had not anticipated that the operation would end so soon and she is currently preoccupied with another matter, she will hopefully join you in a while. Would you like to have something to drink?" he asked after explaining the situation to Anya. Anya waved him off and was left alone, in a some sort of study or a library.
Anya tiredly plopped on to a sofa, the adrenaline of the situation wearing off and the quiet, peaceful atmosphere had made her even more drowsy and she dosed off soon after.
